Fair Housing Clinic to Work on U.S. Supreme Court Case

C|M|LAW’s Fair Housing Clinic will be researching and writing briefs for First American Financial Corporation v. Edwards, U.S. Supreme Ct. Case No. No. 10-708.  The Clinic won  the case being appealed, Edwards v. First Am. Corp. , 610 F.3d 514 (9th Cir. 2010), as well as a companion case Edwards v. First Am. Corp., 385 Fed. Appx. 629, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 12718 (9th Cir. 2010) (The companion case deals with issues of class action certification and nationwide discovery).  The issue pending in the U.S. Supreme Court is whether a purchaser of real estate [who does not claim that the alleged violation of RESPA affected the price, quality, or other characteristics of the settlement services provided] has standing to sue under Article III, § 2 of the United States Constitution, which provides that the federal judicial power is limited to ‘Cases’ and ‘Controversies’ and which the Court has interpreted to require the plaintiff to ‘have suffered an ‘injury in fact.’’

The Fair Housing Clinic represents the plaintiff, a purchaser of real estate and Cleveland resident, who allegedly was affected by an exclusive agreement between her title insurance agent, Tower City Title, and issuer of title insurance policies, First American.  According to the complaint, First American purchased minority interests in Tower City Title and numerous other title insurance agents across the country, in return for the agents agreeing to exclusively refer all title business to First American.   Section 8(a) of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), 12 USC 2607, makes it illegal to give or receive a kickback or referral fee (broadly defined) in exchange for referring business (such as title insurance, mortgages, etc.) connected to a residential real estate transaction.